Madonna of the Book

The Madonna of the Book is a small panel by Sandro Botticelli, painted in tempera around 1480. It shows Mary seated in the corner of a room beside a window, with the Christ Child at her side. She holds an open book of hours, and the words Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis can still be made out on its pages. Her expression is serious and thoughtful: it is unclear whether she is looking at her son or absorbed in her reading. The Child gazes up at her, and the two hands are posed in nearly the same way, the right open in a gesture close to a blessing and the left closed.

The Child holds the three nails of the cross and the crown of thorns, a reference to the Passion that lies ahead. Such emblems were a familiar feature of Christian iconography, though they were probably added after the initial design to make the message more explicit. Botticelli lavished attention on small details: a set of boxes and a bowl of lush fruit that approaches a still life, where the cherries allude to Paradise. The book's pages, the fabrics and the transparent veils have a remarkably tactile quality, and gold filigree decorates the garments and objects. The gold was part of the contract with the patron, which set the price of the painting in writing.

The rectangular format is unusual for Botticelli's work after 1470, and the picture recalls earlier Madonnas he painted under the influence of Filippo Lippi. Its simple devotional character helps explain its wide circulation. As in his other Madonnas, the bond between mother and child feels more intellectual than affectionate, unlike the warmer, smiling Virgins of Raphael. The painting is now held in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan.

Painter

Sandro Botticelli

Date

1480

Medium

tempera, panel

Dimensions

58 × 40 cm

Museum

Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

Movement

Early Renaissance

Genre

religious art

Depicts

boy, Mary, woman, mother, Christ Child

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